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Preview: Starbreeze's New Syndicate

Our beloved isometric tactical strategy game is becoming an FPS. We do our best to look on the bright side.

In the opening cinematic of Bullfrog Productions' 1993 PC classic, Syndicate, a nameless corporation is recruiting for new Agents. And by recruiting, I mean hopping in one of the game's egg-shaped future cars, running down a pedestrian in the street, and transporting him back to headquarters for cybernetic implants and a memory wipe. How's that for a human resources department?

The surprising, brutal opening perfectly sets the tone for a game that allowed players to ruthlessly run wild with their own customized squad of heavily armed, heavily drugged cyborgs in isometric cities around the world, taking out targets, enemy Agents, and anything else that got in your way -- intentionally or otherwise. I can still remember watching that first scene all those years ago and eagerly diving into Bullfrog's gritty, dystopian future.

And Syndicate delivered. Watching Agents with maxed out adrenaline meters fly around the map like red ants on PCP, unloading with the powerful mini-gun for the first time, and using the ever-handy Persuadeatron device to brainwash a swarming horde of mindless followers were all memorable moments that made Syndicate a fun, unique, tell-your-friends-about-it gaming experience.

Now, like other fans of the franchise out there, I'm folding my arms and shaking my head over EA and Starbreeze Studios' decision to bring Syndicate back as a first-person shooter. First X-COM and now Syndicate? What's next, a Diablo FPS?

Ahem.

I've got to admit it, though, after going hands-on with Syndicate at EA's Vegas Showcase on Tuesday, Starbreeze managed to crack through my icy layer of contempt and shift my opinion from, "This is not okay" to "This just might be okay." And in an effort to convince myself of the latter, I've decided to create a list that outlines why Syndicate: The FPS (our own slightly derogatory made-up name) won't completely suck.

These guys know first-person shooters.

The People Making the Game
Starbreeze is the Swedish studio that brought us The Chronicles of Riddick games, two titles that managed the rare feat of being better than the films that spawned them – well, at least the second movie. And demon-powered FPS The Darkness wasn't too shabby, either.

Yes, Starbreeze is a solid studio that makes FPS games that are just plain different, and it now appears to have some serious backing from Electronic Arts to make Syndicate: The FPS a true AAA title. And that's not all. A number of Bullfrog veterans that worked on the original are also helping to resurrect the franchise, and if there is anyone who knows what made the first Syndicate so special, it's the people who created it.

Amazing game, not-so-amazing storyline.

A Storyline
The original Syndicate dropped you into the future, gave you a powerful corporation, and sent you on missions across the globe in an effort to make your company the most powerful in the world. Sure, players became attached to Agents they developed and enhanced over time, but in terms of a real story and characters, the original Syndicate was as barren as the womb of Mrs. Tony Montana.

That's not the case in Syndicate: The FPS. In announcing the game, EA and Starbreeze revealed that Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick, and John W. Campbell awards-winning sci-fi author Richard Morgan (Takeshi Kovacs series) penned the story in which players will take on the role of one Miles Kilo, the latest prototype agent of Eurocorp (the same name of the syndicate that became all-powerful in the first game's expansion, Syndicate: American Revolution). Eurocorp is in a battle with two other mega corporations, Cayman Global and Aspari, for dominance over the American market, and Kilo will become entangled in an "action adventure full of corruption and revenge."

Sure, the story will inevitably take a shocking twist where the corporation Kilo thinks he knows and loves is actually Comcast, but hey, at least there is a story to speak of, and with Morgan attached it just might take us places we haven't been before.

The original Persuadeatron. Don't touch it. Don't even look at it.

The Persuadeatron and Other Toys
If, by chance while in your daily travels, you encounter a strange dude in a trench coat and simply can't resist the urge to follow him everywhere he goes -- and even find yourself doing cheerful little laps around him when he's standing still -- I regret to inform you you've been Persuadetroned. Probably should get that checked out.

The clever piece of equipment introduced in the first Syndicate game was used primarily in missions that tasked you with winning targets (enemy scientists and the like) over to your corporation's side. Walk up, hit them with the Persuadetron, and they instantly became your loyal followers. And if you were the devious type, you could even persuade random passers-by, gathering followers until you formed a convenient human shield wall around yourself should you encounter any trouble.

Thankfully, Starbreeze isn't discarding the Persuadetron like it discarded the isometric view, and players should expect to use the device in new and interesting ways. And yes, I'm totally psyched to see the look on an NPC's face in first-person view when I zap them with the Persuadetron for the first time.

And the Persuadetron isn't the only item from the original you'll recognize. Starbreeze is also intent on bringing back the arsenal of weaponry you know and love – with a twist -- and in the game's demo, we got a look at the new and improved Gauss Gun. In Syndicate, the Gauss Gun was a ridiculously powerful rocket launcher. In the FPS, it's a high-caliber machine gun with smart bullets. Click on an enemy to lock them in, and you can then shoot a stream of bullets around corners, up and over cover, into tight spaces, and, well, wherever your unfortunate target tries to hide. The Gauss Gun is nasty.

Does the minigun count as a squad member?

Four-Player Co-Op
The bad news is the Syndicate: The FPS single-player campaign is a solo mission without the game's patented four-person squads. The good news is a separate, four-player co-op mode is also included in the game.

The Starbreeze devs at the Vegas Showcase promised Syndicate's co-op mode would be a deep compliment to the single-player campaign, and unflinching fans of the original might be able to look past the transition to the first-person perspective thanks to co-op's maps, which are first-person recreations of the isometric cities from the original. Yup, you and three friends can explore the original in an all new way in Syndicate: The FPS, and co-op mode alone sounds like it has the potential to be worth the price of admission.

Syndicate: The FPS is brutal.

DART Brutality
After going hands-on with the game Tuesday, I was left with two distinct impressions: Syndicate: The FPS will feature the same level of brutality as the original, and the game's DART 6 Bio-Chip hacking mechanic will be what sets it apart from the standard FPS gameplay mechanics you've used countless times.

In the brief chunk of the mission we played through at the Vegas Showcase, Miles Kilo and a fellow Eurocorp agent are on a mission to eliminate a scientist from an enemy corporation. As your partner strolls into facility first, warning you about the bomb that's implanted in the scientist's head, he nonchalantly shoots two guards you encounter in the lobby in the head before making it an execution trifecta with an unarmed scientist.

Moments later, you come upon two guards interrogating a suspect in a glass-walled room. Using your DART 6 Bio-Chip, which allows you to slow time and hack into anything and everything with a microchip in it – including every NPC in the game – you crack one guard's brain and implant the Suicide hack. You then watch as the guard clutches his skull in agony, loses control of himself, and caps his fellow interrogator, the prisoner, and finally himself. How very… Syndicate.

The bottom line is this: Does it suck EA and Starbreeze decided to transform a classic tactical strategy game into an FPS? Yes, yes it does. However, as outlined above, there is reason to hope the game won't be terrible. Hell, my first look at the game has me thinking it might even turn out to be really good.

That said, I also know a significant portion of you Syndicate loyalists out there won't be swayed. That's why I'm happy to leave you with this news: in the wake of EA and Starbreeze's announcement, developer Paradox Interactive has decided to create a new title called Cartel – a top down RTS set in a dystopian future where players control a squad of super soldiers and specialists working to help a megacorporation secure worldwide dominance.

Spy Guy says: The comparisons to Deus Ex are inevitable, particularly given the similar gold and black color schemes. But while Deus Ex is best played as a stealth game, Syndicate is best played as a shooter -- and it feels like it. Starbreeze's FPS controls are spot-on and the game's digital weapons carry the appropriate "weight." So, can you get past Syndicate being an FPS and give the game a chance?